"Oil analysts don't expect sudden changes in Venezuela oil policies after Hugo Chavez's death. But political change in post-Chavez Venezuela could open its oil industry to much wider foreign investment."

"Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's death is not likely to result in near-term changes to the Venezuelan oil industry or global energy landscape, but it could ultimately result in political change that would reopen the country's energy industry to foreign investment.

As news of Chavez's death swept through IHS CERAWeek, the world's largest conference for energy executives, in Houston on Tuesday afternoon, participants flocked to televisions, looking for news on the political future of a country that has the second largest oil reserves in the world.

'It's too soon to say what Hugo Chavez's death means for oil prices,' said IHS Vice Chair Daniel Yergin. 'But it is certainly true that oil prices are what made Hugo Chavez possible,' as the collapse of oil prices in the late 1990s 'gave him the opening to become president' and rising oil prices since 2000 'gave him the financial resources to consolidate power.'"